Chapter 48: The Price of Power
If you read chapter 47 within the first day or two of its upload, I forgot about Vegeta in the italics bit at the beginning. It's now been edited (to summarise and repeat here: Goku and Vegeta are stronger than Raditz who's stronger than Gohan. I'd like to use the 'greater than' symbols, but this site deletes them. Hence the random bit in another commentary bit in a recent chapter where I go on a rant about Pikkon's power level, but it doesn't make sense because the site deleted my bloody 'is greater than' symbols! Whyyyyyyy)
A couple of reviews asked questions I think are quite relevant to the story and where it's going, so be sure to check out the Q&A this chapter.
Dende was the Guardian of Earth.
He still wasn't quite used to that.
He stood on the edge of the Lookout, leaning on his oversized staff, staring out into the skies of the planet, reaching out with his mind and scanning the human world below him. They're all just getting on with their lives...slowly but steadily advancing their race...do they need me? I wonder...should a Namekian be governing human concerns? I can't imagine how we'd react to a human Guardian on Namek...
"Dende?" The young Guardian looked around at the voice, seeing Mr. Popo approaching behind him. The genie's face bore his usual genial, if slightly befuddled, expression. "Is something troubling you?"
You always could read peoples' emotions... Dende nodded slowly. "Yes...it's a lot of things...I wonder if I'm needed...I'm not sure if an alien should have this position...I don't know, really."
"Well, I think I do," his friend said, with a slight sad edge to his voice. "You're homesick."
The future timeline...
Gohan flexed his new arm, feeling the odd sensation of the pistons and gears hooked up to his nervous system. "Huh...weird..."
"'Weird'? Is that all?" Bulma frowned. "Oh no, don't thank me, that would be a little much..."
"Haha, sorry! Thanks so much, Bulma!" Gohan smiled sheepishly. "So, how exactly does this work?"
"Well, it's largely based off of Seventeen and Eighteen, so physically it should be about as strong as them, but you can still augment it with your ki as normal. Unfortunately, I can't seem to replicate Dr. Gero's infinite energy source yet, so if you're ever completely drained it'll stop working—it runs off your internal power. And while it looks pretty robotic now, I'll probably get the hang of human-looking bionics soon, so I'll upgrade it to look more normal later."
Gohan nodded. "Right. That's great. It's weird, huh...one set of androids took my arm, the others made it possible for me to get a new one..." he quickly realised his mistake. "Oh, uh, and you, of course!"
"Right. So, how's your training been going?" Bulma asked, switching topics rather suddenly.
"Oh, good. Really well, actually," Gohan said slowly. "It's weird, being the learner for once, but with Break's help I've been able to fully master Super Saiyan just like she has. But I always get the feeling there's something more she isn't telling me...ah, it's probably nothing. Say, where is she, anyway?"
"Where do you think?" Bulma began packing her tools away. "Out there, helping out however she can. People have organised themselves so quickly...there's always some new building project someone with superhuman strength can be useful for." There had never been any need for secrecy, really—rumours had always flown around about the mysterious golden-haired fighters who sometimes opposed the androids, and after one particularly impressive lightshow had coincided with the androids' disappearance, most people knew how to put two and two together. So now, of course, they were treated as heroes wherever they went. Gohan didn't mind, but he got the feeling Break was uneasy about it for some reason. But she still accepted it, giving aid to the best of her ability as the world slowly put itself back together.
"Yeah, that's like her...I keep telling her to take a break—no pun intended—but she never listens." He stretched, doing some basic warm-up exercises and putting his new arm through the motions to try and get used to it. "Well, I guess I'll go check up on her, see if there's anything I can help with."
"See ya." Bulma waved as Gohan flew out the open window in a burst of energy. Everything's finally going right, huh...those two are heroes, and the only androids are the 'converted' ones from the past... None of them had seen Seventeen and Eighteen for a while. It seemed the pair had been content to blend into the crowd and enjoy the normal, human life Dr. Gero had stolen from them, while secretly continuing to help the rebuilding effort behind the scenes. It's coming up on a year...a year of freedom. Maybe that'll be an occasion to see those two again...but then, maybe not. I'm not sure, given what they almost did—what they easily could have done—that I could stand to be so close to them. Maybe it's for the best that they left...
Main timeline...
Goku and Chi-Chi gazed down at their baby's wide, searching eyes.
"Wow..." Goku mumbled. "I'm still finding it weird that I even have one kid, and now I've got two..."
"Heh." Chi-Chi shook her head. "You'd better get used to it...hopefully it'll be easier this time around, now we've got more experience with this parenting thing..."
"You know, Gohan turned out a lot like you," Goku commented. "Or at least like you wanted him to be. He works hard at his studies, and isn't really interested in fighting. You think Goten'll be more like me?"
"I certainly hope not!" Chi-Chi laughed. "Who's there left to fight?"
"Hah! Good point." Goku grinned. "We've taken care of pretty much Frieza's family's whole empire...we've finished off the last of the Red Ribbon Army's androids...I guess we've got some peace at last. Well...I admit, it's less exciting without any of those enemies around, but at least it's safer for the kids."
"Right." Chi-Chi picked Goten up, holding him close. "They'll get to grow up in a normal, safe world."
"And hey, even if something does come up, Gohan can handle himself in a fight, and I'm sure Goten will catch on, too." Goku patted the baby on the head. "Our kids are gonna be just fine."
Videl took a few hurried steps back as the dust cleared. Gohan's feet had scored tracks in the rock as he was forced backwards, and now he stood still, holding his ground. Both his hands were raised in front of his face, holding back his attacker's fist. The heavily-muscled man stood over a foot taller than Gohan, and was decked out in standard empire armour, coloured a dark grey. A red-lensed scouter perched on his face, a tail curled around his waist, and most strikingly of all, his hair looked almost exactly the same as Goku's. "What the..." Gohan frowned. "You look like my dad!" His arms began to tremble as the attacker slowly increased the force of his attack.
He grinned cruelly. "I see...is that so?" Narrowing his eyes, he sent out a wave of ki that flattened Gohan, driving him into the floor. "Clearly you're ill-informed about your own race. Certain genetic strains are common among us saiyans. Now...can I help you?"
Gohan climbed to his feet. "Sure. You can surrender control of this half of the planet before I have to make you."
"Hah! That's a good one. I guess you've worked out that I'm Turles..."
"It wasn't very hard...there aren't exactly many saiyans running around these days."
"True. But don't get any big ideas...your power is impressive, I'll grant you that. Maybe defeating some of my soldiers made you think you were something special. But—" his arm swung around, a blindingly quick uppercut launching Gohan into the air, through the ceiling and out into the open sky, where he managed to stop himself in mid-air. However, before he could fully recover, Turles appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the neck. "—but! There's a difference between the two of us." He held firm as Gohan struggled in vain to prise apart the iron grip around his neck. "You're subject to the normal limits of your saiyan body, whereas I...I have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Might. I have met those limits, and surpassed them all! Trying to do something 'brave' like challenging my rule would be foolish in the extreme. If you'd be willing to work for me, though, I might not have to kill you just yet..."
"Y...you..." Gohan hissed. "You're not the only one...who's exceeded...those limits..."
"Oh, really? Care to explain? Or you could just die, I suppose. You know, whatever works."
"I..." Gohan's power surged to the surface as he transformed, a golden wave of energy rippling through his body and exploding outwards, forcing Turles away. "...am a SUPER SAIYAN!"
"What?" Turles shielded his eyes from the light, then ripped his scouter off as it malfunctioned. "Don't tell me...the legend?!"
"That's right, Turles." Gohan's eyes hardened. "You can't beat me...give up now, and I won't hurt you."
"Heh." Turles grinned maniacally. "I know what you're thinking...you're a Super Saiyan and I'm not, so there's no way you can lose, right?"
"Something like that."
"Well, think about it this way...I've eaten the fruit of the Tree of Might, and you haven't. I'd say that about makes us even."
"If you say so..." Gohan smirked. "I mean, if you think your diet plan is greater than the legendary transformation of our race, then go ahead. Come at me with your best shot."
"Sounds like a plan!" Turles charged in, throwing a straight kick, but Gohan dodged to the side.
Even now...the gap between us isn't as much as I thought it'd be...what kind of fruit is this? Gohan jumped back as Turles continued his attacks, growing more frenzied and uncontrolled, but strangely faster at the same time—Turles began to tap into his full power as his regard for the safety of his surroundings was drowned out by his desire to kill this unexpected opponent. "I-will-end-you-child!" His punch shattered the highest tower of the palace, sending out shockwaves that flattened trees miles away.
"Well, you haven't laid a hand on me since I transformed, so I'd say that's unlikely." Gohan sent an elbow crashing into Turles' shoulder, knocking him away through the air.
Righting himself, Turles howled in frustration. "This...isn't...happening!" Veins popped out on his forehead as his power surged through him. "You-you're not even a true saiyan! The injustice...the legend fulfilled, the Super Saiyan emerges...and it's this whining brat?! You're fighting for people you don't even know, it's ridiculous!"
"Of course, I don't expect you to understand." Gohan floated up next to Turles, hovering a few metres away. "But that's exactly the point—someone like you could never transform. The warrior with a pure heart, awakened by fury...that's a Super Saiyan. Not a bloodthirsty murderer!" He clenched his fists, ready to end the battle.
"You..." Turles growled in a low voice. "You're no saiyan...you're despicable. You act like you're better than me...with your morals and principles...you don't know anything. There's no such thing as a 'pure heart'. You hear me?" He was ranting now, flecks of foam flying from his mouth, his eyes wild. "You don't know anything, child! You've never killed...not because it's 'wrong' or some crap like that—because you don't have what it takes! I, on the other hand..." He swung his arm downwards, launching a huge energy wave at the nearby city. "I AM THE GREATEST WARRIOR IN THE UNIVERSE!"
"No! That city—!" Gritting his teeth, Gohan raced after the attack, trying to intercept it. At the last moment, he swung around in front of it, blocking it with both hands. He struggled to push it back, fighting against its accumulated momentum. All those people down there...I won't let them down! "Yaaah!" He forced the beam back into the air, firing his own blast and extinguishing it. He smiled, sighing. That was a little too close...
Suddenly, Turles came rocketing in from the side, crashing into Gohan and slamming a knee into his face. Gohan fell away, and Turles continued his assault, battering Gohan back and forth, beginning to draw blood with every strike. "Hah! Not so super of a saiyan after all, huh?"
"HAAAH!" Cried a voice from the left.
"What—aaargh!" Turles felt an impact to his face that sent him reeling. Videl hung in the air next to Gohan, lowering her foot after the kick.
"You all right, Gohan?" she asked anxiously.
"Yeah...thanks. I was in serious trouble there." Gohan had told frowned, igniting his aura and turning to face Turles. "All right...I can't underestimate him anymore." He flew up towards Turles, drawing back his fist to strike. "It's over!"
Well, that chapter was all over the place. Not in the sense of being poorly planned out (I hope), but first we were in the Guardian's palace, then we jumped to the future timeline, then to Mount Paozu, then to Gohan v. Turles...the camera crew must be exhausted (Break Through the Limit is filmed before a live studio audience. That joke was stolen from Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series. We stole it from their back pocket when they weren't looking.)
Also, I just had an amazing idea for the Shadow Dragon saga. Even Further Beyond is now definitely going to be a thing. Which is good for you guys, I guess, because Break Through the Limit will continue for longer, and good for me because I've just thought of a great way to do it. So everybody wins.
And here's the question I mentioned at the beginning, that I really want to address (I can't italicise it for some reason):
Q: So instead of Gohan taking the sword out you have raditz do it, I feel like you are making gohan a second rate character at this point. He didn't kill cell( which he was supposed to do), he didn't take the z sword out( which he was supposed to do) and now he's going up against turles who was on of the weaker villains in the dbz movies, Goku beat his as a false super saijan. I know this is an AU but you have made everyone in this story take a back seat to raditz who was weaker then gohan was when he was a child, and turned him into goku 2.0. You aslo had zarbon mate with Bulma instead of Vegeta, another character that's taken a very far backseat to everyone else, and trunks( the real one) wasn't born. One of the coolest characters in the entire dbz universe. That being said I do like this story the originality you have displayed. I can't wait to see where this story goes. Oh and just a suggestion I've never read a dbz story that involved angels or demons( other then buu and the kais) and a epic story about them fighting would be amazing.
A:Weeeeell, I kind of address this below, but Gohan was still the first SSJ2, and he killed Broly...(I was going to say Goku beat Turles with a spirit bomb and Slug with false super saiyan, but that's hardly relevant so I won't make a fuss about it). And as for Raditz becoming like Goku, well...yeah. I hope this didn't come across as forced, but...that was kind of the point, to make Raditz undergo a slow journey from villain to anti-villain to anti-hero to hero, and eventually become like Goku, even though it's difficult for him and not in his nature. He wants to be someone heroic and selfless like Goku, and that's one of the things I tried to show in this first part of Break Through the Limit, up to the Cell saga; his struggle to become that, culminating in his sacrifice for his brother and the world, bringing Tien's sacrifice for Raditz in chapter 3 (I think?) full circle. I'm sorry if this resulted in other characters taking a back seat to him. It wasn't intentional; I tried to give other characters their moments too. I mean, Raditz hasn't actually killed a single saga villain, for one thing (although I guess he has defeated one)...
And the rest of the Q&A, which is still probably worth checking out if you want your questions answered, and various things cleared up:
Q: [Various things about Gohan not being as badass as canon, not training enough, not beating Cell, the possibility of no mystic Gohan]
A:Oh, ye of little faith. Fear not, he shall have his moment. Multiple moments. Anyway, he already was the first SSJ2 and beat Broly, and now he's getting his own story arc.
Q:I only have qualms with the way you've written Kuriza's dialogue. At first, you make him seem(and explicitly say) that he's bored. Then, he goes into a heroic speech after revealing who he is to Amond. Then, right after killing him, Kuriza expresses boredom again at the fact that Amond was so weak. Seems a little artificial and odd to me, but that was something I figured I'd bring up.
A:He's still a child, really, even more so than Gohan (Gohan's grown up a bit, but frost demons age very slowly). He has a very short attention span, but he's well educated, so he swings back and forth between childish and mature pretty quickly. That's what I'm going for, anyway.
Q:Anyway,great Chapter(it took a while),but how come THIS(Z Sword,Kaioshin&Kibito and stuff)didn't happen in the "Original" Z?"Cause of the Tournament 'n Stuff,or...
A:Yup. The tournament meant Grand Kai saw Goku's power earlier, before he unlocked SSJ2, and never bothered offering to train him.
Q: I feel a little slow not realising this, but there can't realistically be a Gotenks later on because the power gap from Goten to the Zarbon fathered Trunks will likely be too high for an effective fusion dance warrior to be created to battle Buu, unless the transformation abilities of Zarbon's race are closer in power to a Sayians than I think?
Also a Break/Goten fusion has the whole can a male & female even fusion dance thing? Well if they can they'd be a hermaphrodite, being an equal blending of the two individuals, weird enough without thinking about them being 7-8yo!
Then there is the Supreme Kai getting involved so much earlier that Raditz may never learn the fusion dance technique anyway, especially if that sword gets broken early it'll be pretty redundant from the Old Kai potential unlock, let alone potalas that just force fuse anything... Actually that is interesting given Old Kai was the result of a potala fusion with a witch (in the TV show anyway, haven't read that far in the manga yet) so is he a hermaphrodite or what? I suppose they could do a gene shuffle during either fusing method & end up either sex rather than a blend as per sexual reproduction, with the remaining half of each individual's genes stored for unfusing?
A:I would say opposite-gendered characters cannot use the fusion dance. As for Old Kai, I'd imagine his Kaioshin-ness would take precedent over the old witch's non-deity-ness, if you see what I mean.
Q:As to the future of the series, I'm curious to see what the ramifications of the world finding out about ki might be. After all if every soldier, gangster and hoodlum starts being able to fly and fire energy blasts... well it should be interesting! On which note I'm also glad to see your characterization of Hercule. Too many writers tend to demonize or dismiss him as a buffoon, without taking into account that he is, in fact, a very strong human fighter and I think your treatment of him, in regards to his training to get better, is spot on for his character.
A: That's true. Hercule did start off buffoonish, claiming he'd beaten Cell, but unlike Z, this time he was unable to cover anything up after being definitively thrashed, on live TV, twice...so he kind of had to get his ass in gear this time, he couldn't rest on his laurels. Which is all well and good as far as Hercule bettering himself is, but there might be Spirit-Bomb-related problems later on...
Q:I look forward to seeing the continuing development of the story (and the resolution of the countdown!)
A:It's the final countdown, the fiiiinaaaal cooountdoooown, oooohhh... (okay, okay, I know, I can't sing...)